Windows laptops don't last

[Extremematt52]

I don't know about what experience the rest of you had but I have had so many issues running windows machines. I love windows and I really hate saying this but I might be switching to a MacBook in the near future. 

 

I graduated from high school summer '17 and as a graduation present my parents bought me a Dell XPS 9560 (32g RAM, 1tb NVMe SSD, 4k Display you get the idea) This is by far the nicest laptop I have ever owned and I really liked it.... for the first few months. Between then and now I have had to send in my laptop for various issues 5 times between initially purchasing it and my third semester of university. I wanted the Dell XPS because so many tech influencers recommended it and turns out its good for 3 months....

 

Currently the system has been with square trade for 4 weeks and I start my 4th semester of university Monday without a laptop. I'm praying I can just get the money from them and put it towards something that will last me for the next 6 years of higher education, or at least longer than the Dell :/

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Extremematt52 said:

windows machines

It's not the OS at fault.

[NunoLava1998]

That sucks.

Maybe you can get a Chromebook or something for a super basic laptop? Otherwise I'd get something like a Node 202

[Extremematt52]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

It's not the OS at fault.

I'm not blaming it on the OS. I've run HP, Alienware, ASUS. All with the same issues.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, Extremematt52 said:

I'm not blaming it on the OS. I've run HP, Alienware, ASUS. All with the same issues.

I'll give you the HP, but my professional experience differs from yours. Perhaps you are hard on the gear?

[RollinLower]

tbh i gues it is hit and miss. i have a acer laptop which is probably 7 years old now, and it is still running strong. i swapped out the HDD for a SSD, gave it 4 more gigs of RAM to bump the total to 8GB, and i swapped out the i3 for an i7 3820QM (hell yes for socketed laptops!)

[42thgamer]

I have my laptop 4 years now, it is getting slow now but it lasted me untill know just fine. And it costed me around 400 bucks.

I run Ubuntu Linux on it know, because there is a lot less bloatware on it, witch makes it a lot faster. But on the hardware site is is still just fine.

[Extremematt52]

7 hours ago, NunoLava1998 said:

That sucks.

Maybe you can get a Chromebook or something for a super basic laptop? Otherwise I'd get something like a Node 202

Freshman year of high school they made us purchase chromebooks, they were all falling apart within week and for litterally no reason. Also not exactly looking for a desktop, already got one.

 

7 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

I'll give you the HP, but my professional experience differs from yours. Perhaps you are hard on the gear?

Not really. I mean if I game on it at all it would be maybe once every 2 months if im traveling

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Extremematt52 said:

Not really. I mean if I game on it at all it would be maybe once every 2 months if im traveling

So what issues have you been having with your latest laptop?

[Extremematt52]

7 hours ago, RollinLower said:

tbh i gues it is hit and miss. i have a acer laptop which is probably 7 years old now, and it is still running strong. i swapped out the HDD for a SSD, gave it 4 more gigs of RAM to bump the total to 8GB, and i swapped out the i3 for an i7 3820QM (hell yes for socketed laptops!)

If "hit or miss" are the 2 options, the odds of every single one of my laptops failing is 6.25% my brother went through 2 macbooks in the time I had 4 laptops and each time mine failed his first mac still works and it survived a house fire. Argument doesn't exactly stand

 

7 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

So what issues have you been having with your latest laptop?

Speakers died completely, it would be almost too hot to touch from watching a youtube video or working on research projects. Also it would overheat while in my backpack asleep. Straight up might have set me on fire if I left it there much longer than I did

 

7 hours ago, 42thgamer said:

I have my laptop 4 years now, it is getting slow now but it lasted me untill know just fine. And it costed me around 400 bucks.

I run Ubuntu Linux on it know, because there is a lot less bloatware on it, witch makes it a lot faster. But on the hardware site is is still just fine.

ideally that would be the case for me too but I have gone through 4 laptops while my brother has gone through 2 macbooks and his first one still works. I literally don't know

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Extremematt52 said:

Also it would overheat while in my backpack asleep

Sounds like it wasn't asleep actually, and with no place to vent hot air, fried the system.

[Extremematt52]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

Sounds like it wasn't asleep actually, and with no place to vent hot air, fried the system.

It wasn't only one time also I specifically put it to sleep I don't just close the laptop.

[bellabichon]

I would personally disagree with your claim about Alienware and ASUS. HP generally builds plastic junk (although their new machines look quite promising) but I think that Windows laptops as a whole can take quite a bit of abuse if you don't treat them like garbage. Mac's are build to be idiot-proof. Their CPUs throttle a ridiculous amount after a few years due to dust buildup that their users almost never clean out. I've taken apart a few 2011-2012 Macbook Pros, and I've literally had an allergy attack from how much dust is clogging those things up. Every part of the Mac software and hardware is designed to be abused every day, and to take the punishment, and also to hide the damage done from the user, so when it eventually stops working, the "Genius" bar can charge you $1200 for a refurbished replacement. Dell also has a good track record of building durable machines. It's super disappointing that your laptop crapped out on you after only 3 months, but I seems you've experienced something rare. You can't blame every Windows laptop for the failure of your machine.

[ThePD]

I bought a Lenovo Y500 late 2012. It had an I7-3630QM and Dual GT 750M's in SLI. That laptop I still use to this day. It made it through High School/College and I was on it almost 24/7. I got it for 800 Dollars back in 2012. Windows laptops do last, you just need to find a brand that has good build quality.

[schwellmo92]

6 minutes ago, Extremematt52 said:

Speakers died completely, it would be almost too hot to touch from watching a youtube video or working on research projects. Also it would overheat while in my backpack asleep. Straight up might have set me on fire if I left it there much longer than I did

Speakers - you sure it wasn't software/driver related?

Backpack - you shouldn't put laptops in your backpack asleep, they can wake up for maintenance tasks.

[Extremematt52]

1 minute ago, bellabichon said:

I would personally disagree with your claim about Alienware and ASUS. HP generally builds plastic junk (although their new machines look quite promising) but I think that Windows laptops as a whole can take quite a bit of abuse if you don't treat them like garbage. Mac's are build to be idiot-proof. Their CPUs throttle a ridiculous amount after a few years due to dust buildup that their users almost never clean out. I've taken apart a few 2011-2012 Macbook Pros, and I've literally had an allergy attack from how much dust is clogging those things up. Every part of the Mac software and hardware is designed to be abused every day, and to take the punishment, and also to hide the damage done from the user, so when it eventually stops working, the "Genius" bar can charge you $1200 for a refurbished replacement. Dell also has a good track record of building durable machines. It's super disappointing that your laptop crapped out on you after only 3 months, but I seems you've experienced something rare. You can't blame every Windows PC for the failure of your machine.

The most I did to that laptop was play the occasional match of overwatch or fortnite its not like I was going crazy with it. Half my extended family uses windows the other uses mac. All the macbooks in the family still run everyone else either switched over or have been replacing laptops every year. I'm not a fan of gambling every time I want to buy a laptop

 

[WereCatf]

I can only speak from personal experience, but I've never had a laptop break except for one laptop where the HDD went kaputt, but even then, after replacing the HDD, the laptop was perfectly fine. Personally, I cannot attest to the OP's claim.

[bellabichon]

1 minute ago, Extremematt52 said:

The most I did to that laptop was play the occasional match of overwatch or fortnite its not like I was going crazy with it. Half my extended family uses windows the other uses mac. All the macbooks in the family still run everyone else either switched over or have been replacing laptops every year. I'm not a fan of gambling every time I want to buy a laptop

 

You're acting like having a Windows laptop, made by Dell, break down in 3 months is a regular thing. It's not. 

[Extremematt52]

4 minutes ago, ThePD said:

I bought a Lenovo Y500 late 2012. It had an I7-3630QM and Dual GT 750M's in SLI. That laptop I still use to this day. It made it through High School/College and I was on it almost 24/7. I got it for 800 Dollars back in 2012. Windows laptops do last, you just need to find a brand that has good build quality.

That what I was going for when I got the Dell. According to alot of influencers the XPS 15 was one of the best not necessarily the most economic but it was supposed to last a while. Im kinda sick of gambling when I purchase harware

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

@schwellmo92 can they? i've never had my MacBook do that before. is that a Windows feature?

 

@bellabichon if you look after Apple hardware it will last a very very very long time. i own a 1998 iMac that still wortks fine. i also have a PowerMac G5 from 2004, still works fine. and a Mac Mini from 2007. still works fine. i own a Late 2011 macbook pro that apart from the gpu (fixed with a software trick that lets it run on intel graphics only) works. my daily machine is a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro which still works flawlessly. 

 

the fact is that if you don't take care of your laptop no matter if it's a Mac or a Windows laptop it will break. 

[bellabichon]

1 minute ago, Extremematt52 said:

Im kinda sick of gambling when I purchase harware

Again, you're acting like having hardware break down in 3 months is a common occurrence. It's just not. 

[Dedayog]

27 minutes ago, Extremematt52 said:

I don't know about what experience the rest of you had but I have had so many issues running windows machines. I love windows and I really hate saying this but I might be switching to a MacBook in the near future. 

 

I graduated from high school summer '17 and as a graduation present my parents bought me a Dell XPS 9560 (32g RAM, 1tb NVMe SSD, 4k Display you get the idea) This is by far the nicest laptop I have ever owned and I really liked it.... for the first few months. Between then and now I have had to send in my laptop for various issues 5 times between initially purchasing it and my third semester of university. I wanted the Dell XPS because so many tech influencers recommended it and turns out its good for 3 months....

 

Currently the system has been with square trade for 4 weeks and I start my 4th semester of university Monday without a laptop. I'm praying I can just get the money from them and put it towards something that will last me for the next 6 years of higher education, or at least longer than the Dell

So you're 18 or 19 and saying laptops with Windows don't last.  You simply lack the experience necessary to make this determination.

 

1 laptop is your sample size?  Study statistics in college please.

[Extremematt52]

1 minute ago, bellabichon said:

You're acting like having a Windows laptop, made by Dell, break down in 3 months is a regular thing. It's not. 

even if it was lasting a year that not exactly great either. even if the odds of getting a good or bad laptop from a reputable brand. out of 4 laptops the odds of that happeneing at 6.25% if their odds of failure are lower than that then I must be satan for my luck to be that shit.

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

can they? i've never had my MacBook do that before. is that a Windows feature?

They can, though, as far as I know, only if they are on AC, not on battery.

[mail929]

I've heard of a few cases of Dell XPSs having random stuff die on them. They're really nice computers but they seem to have a bit of a QC issue. Otherwise, laptop quality seems to have drastically improved over the last 5 years or so. HP used to be so bad but I have nothing but good things to say about their newer computers. Even Chromebooks have had a huge jump in quality, I use a Acer Chromebook 14 as my laptop.